Worldbuilding & Writing: Traditions
You have the bones of a culture, but need more ideas on how to give it life. It's time to come up with the traditions.
Traditions in real life come from many places, and can fade with time despite their whole aspect being the longevity they've played in a culture. So we need to not only design the traditions, but also why people continue to follow these traditions. I've laid out some places here to start.
First come, first serve. That's how religion and spirituality shape culture, beauty standards, and even traditions. Majority of the traditions, all around the world, come from a form of faith or spirituality.
For hardcore religions, this makes sense in the survival of the fittest sort of way. Those who believe in divine punishment, the wrath of the gods, or a fiery pit of hell, are going to be a lot more adamant in performing religions to protect themselves and appease their pantheon.
Different gods, spirits, or myths call for different traditions and rituals. And with the threat of religion on one's heels, we writers can get our hands bloody coming up with dark and grim traditions. I mean people still sacrifice their children in the name of spirits and gods to this day so....
Also mythical or magical creatures, dragons, fairies, they might need to be appeased or avoided.
Refusing to step in a circle of mushrooms is a tradition that passed down over centuries to protect those from being whisked away into the fairy realm.
In a worldbuilding where the gods are real, and perhaps the people even know them, there would be little reason to not participate in a religious tradition. What's to stop the gods from coming down and smiting an entire town, because they didn't receive enough offerings for the harvest festival.
Even the smallest tribes have traditions that are in reality lessons/survival tactics in disguise.
Of course most fairy tales, even those told in tradition, are equipped with lessons, but what if the guides to an ancient mountain had a tradition to always follow a bioluminescent stag if you see it in the mountains? What if a people throw their riches into a great sinkhole once a year, appeasing a beast that hides within?
Maybe a tradition helps to upkeep the local environment, or maintain the survival local species. Maybe tradition makes the simple necessities, such as the autumn harvest and preparation for the winter's arrival, more fun.
These survival and lesson traditions stick around longer, because they have more reasons beyond faith and culture than to exist.
Celebration & The Calendar
Astrology and the calendar are intrinsically linked in our own world by ancient civilizations and empires that came before us, the same human eyes staring up into the sky, witnessing some of the very same stars and planets we see to this day.
The invention of both the clock and calendar is a natural progression of civilization, and in response to nature's whims of seasons are the traditions naturally forged throughout history.
It makes sense that people would be enchanted by the longest night of winter, or the longest day of summer.
In my opinion the two most strongest aspects of tradition is culture and ancestry, but let's start with culture.
Traditions are pieces of culture, no matter the way they came about. Many people continue traditions, passing them down from generation to generation, not only to feel connected to their own history/lineage, but also to participate in their own culture.
Many traditions that live on are being carried by those who find its cultural/historical purpose great enough to see fit it the next generation be able to witness it.
Dance, song, and food can all also be members of tradition. Feeding candy to costumed children on the night of halloween, turning over your anime posters at the start of ramadan, even hazing are forms of traditions founded in community.
Carrying and preforming these traditions is more than just the sole experience, but also becoming one with one's culture and delivering their people's history.
That's why when traveling, I think it's best to partake in local traditions in order to become another soul carrying the legacy of the culture they're immersing themselves within.
So uh go see a powwow, try on some traditional clothing if you're visiting Japan, and be respectful.
Finally... ancestry. Although it's not very important to me, I know it means the world to others, especially cultures that have struggled underneath the boot of oppression, peoples that have had their history, stories, and culture ripped from them and destroyed.
Connecting to one's ancestry goes beyond spirituality and family. Traditions can call upon the ancestors, or promise them safe voyage in the afterlife. Traditions can be way to communicate with the ancestors. Traditions can be a way to feel community.
Traditions are pieces of the mosaic of life, they reveal so much about a culture.
When worldbuilding I must remember that I've creating a people here. They must have a story, a culture, ancestors, a history. I want to these characters and civilizations to feel real without burying people with nonstop lore bombs and epilogues. So I must show them that these characters have stories....
Let's use the southern people of the Sacred Islands. A spirituality, not necessarily a religion, yet worshipped by millions alongside their own gods and pantheons, is that of the Lantern Beasts.
You'll see their depictions all across Peace City, in decorative tapestries, lanterns hanging off the sides of market stalls, and in tattoos up and down the arms of civilians and soldiers alike.
If you stop a Sacred Islander and ask if they think the lantern beast are real there's a fifty-fifty chance they'll tell you no. That doesn't stop the non-believers from gathering in the streets for Lantern Night, picking the perfect patron for their next year, and setting a paper lantern into the sky.
Each beast represents the virtues and hopes of the Sacred Islanders, carrying folk tales and stories that barely survived the elemental wars. The youths know a tattoo of the tiger beast won't actually imbue them with fierceness and beauty, and yet they cannot help but feel her strength within the ink.
Good Luck, Safe worldbuilding!
